


Red

by speedgriffon



Series: Dirty Fork | Madelyn Hardy Fics [1]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship/Love, Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22642159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedgriffon/pseuds/speedgriffon
Summary: It’s an anniversary, of sorts. Madelyn describes to Nick what her husband was like.
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor/Sole Survivor's Spouse, Sole Survivor & Nick Valentine
Series: Dirty Fork | Madelyn Hardy Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/362033
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing a t-swift song inspired ficlet challenge of my own design for the month of February for a variety of my OCs/pairings. Enjoy! :)

_December 4 th, 2287_

Madelyn shivered as a wind gusted across the upper hills that overlooked Sanctuary, tightening the jacket she wore across her shoulders and chest. It might have been a better idea to stay inside with the incoming rainstorm on the horizon, but that evening there was only one place she wanted to be. Her boots clinked across the metal shielding of the vault hatch, glancing over the faded lettering— _Vault 111._

It had been a little over a month since she had crawled her way out of Vault-Tech’s cryogenic nightmare and found herself two-hundred years in the future. Just over a month since she had escaped from the place in which she last saw her only child, and where her husband—the love of her life—was murdered. Once they had dreamed about matching plots in Beacon Hill but now? Vault 111—now an eternal resting place for Nathaniel James. 

She sat down on the rusted metal, uncaring how uncomfortable it made her feel and just sat there, staring out over the little town she used to live in. Not that she didn’t have a home to call there anymore, but Madelyn found it all very strange to stay in Sanctuary more often than not. She was happy for Preston and the Minutemen survivors to call it their own, and she had sent plenty of other settlers and companions their way, but for now, there were too many memories attached like it was hallowed earth.

Madelyn wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there, but the sunset had cast an eerie pinkish glow across the landscape when she heard footsteps crunching the leaves behind her. She craned her head, turning just in time to find Nick already standing beside her, discarding his burnt-out cigarette.

“Hey doll,” his craggily robotic voice wasn’t all that surprising. In the short time that she had known him, he had a surprising knack for keeping an eye out for her—and for that she was immensely grateful. Nick was one of the genuine ones, somebody she was lucky to have in her corner. Eventually, he settled down next to her, grimacing slightly as if the hard ground didn’t settle well with his metal frame. “Long day?”

Madelyn decided to be honest with him, as she had been with all other aspects of her life so far. “Today’s my wedding anniversary.”

Nick looked at her, somewhat flummoxed—if a synth could even _look_ flummoxed—and Madelyn swore she could hear his processors firing. He glanced down at the ring on her left hand, the ring she had yet to take off—she wondered if she’d ever be able to. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she replied with a sad sort of smile, leaning over to bump her shoulder against his.

Detective Valentine, now good-ol Nick was the only one to truly know the details of her past life (well, besides Codsworth) before the War. Sure, Piper knew about the search for her son, and that her husband had been murdered, but Madelyn had kept a lot of the details private in those early weeks when it was still so raw. As her and Nick hunted for Kellogg together, she slowly shared more and more, feeling a camaraderie with the man— _synth_ —that was also from her time.

“It was eight years in 2077—so today it would’ve been…two-hundred and nineteen,” she softly chuckled, though the sorrow was obvious in her tone.

Nick’s eyes shined as he observed her. “Been thinking about this a lot, huh?”

“I’ve been measuring my time ever since I left Sanctuary. By minutes, by days…” she trailed. “How many days has it been since this, or that,” she let out an exasperated sigh. “But this hurts the most, Nick. There’s still some hope I might find Shaun. But Nate? Nate’s dead. There’s no more anniversaries to celebrate.”

“Tell me about him,” he suddenly said, in jarring contrast to her lamenting. “Tell me about Nate. To keep his memory alive.”

Madelyn hesitated, but couldn’t discredit Nick for trying. Afterall, she had done the same for him just a few weeks ago when they had gone after Eddie Winters, and he had professed all his memories of Jennifer Lands. It was only fair, and oh, was her heart bursting at the seams to say something.

“He was tall. Like, at least a foot taller than me. Had this wavy auburn, almost ginger hair that he never had any problem styling. All the other guys at the veteran’s hall were always so jealous of him and his style,” she didn’t realize how fast she had been speaking. “Nate always had been such a sharp dresser, you’d never catch him in a casual Friday outfit. And his ties—God—his _ties_ , you could’ve filled a whole closet with just his collection of those!”

Nick was smiling at her and Madelyn soon recognized that she was smiling too. “We were friends in high school first. Shared history and chemistry. So ironic. We’d go out for milkshakes, then stay out too late to watch movies at the drive-in, break curfew so we could sneak in one last kiss.”

“I fell in love with those ocean-green eyes,” she continued, heartbeat seizing as a vision of them came to her so crystal clear it was as if he was standing right there in front of her. “My parents loved him, his parents hated everything. So we got married after high school and never looked back.”

That’s when the tears prickled her vision, Nick tucking an arm around her shoulder so she could seek comfort in a friendly embrace. She leaned into him, evening out her breathing as she tried to focus. The sun was completely gone from the horizon now, a dark purple haze blanketing them as the night sky gave way to twinkling stars and a light sprinkle of rain.

“Missing him is the hardest thing I have to do every day,” she quietly sobbed.

“You don’t have to forget him,” Nick encouraged, tucking her close. “Even as you move on.”

Nick was right—he was always right, not that Madelyn ever doubted him. As she learned to adapt to her life in the Wasteland Commonwealth, she would form new bonds with people, make new friendships—hell, she might even fall in love again. But she would never forget her first love. She would never forget Nathaniel James.

**Author's Note:**

> say hello over on tumblr @ eeveevie  
> kudos and comments are always appreciated :)


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